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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, DECEMBER 22, 2019
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The US Congress passed
legislation to reinstate twoway
tolls on the Verrazzano
Narrows Bridge, three
federal Brooklyn pols announced
Tuesday.
The House’s Fiscal Year
2020 bi-partisan spending
package known as the Omnibus
Budget Package includes
language ending a three-decade
ban on two-way tolling
at the massive span between
Brooklyn and Staten Island,
which will ease traffi c, cut
back on out-of-state truck
traffi c entering Manhattan
via the bridge, and bring
much-needed revenue to the
Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, according to
one pol.
“Restoring split-tolling
will greatly improve traffi c
and congestion in Brooklyn
and Lower Manhattan,
while also capturing new vital
funding for the MTA from
out-of-state trucks, which no
longer will avoid a toll entering
New York City via
Staten Island or dodge tolls
on the Hudson River Bridge
and tunnel crossings,” said
Congressman Jerrold Nadler
(D–Borough Park).
The senior Brooklyn
Democrat pushed for the
legislation along with representatives
Max Rose (D–Bay
Ridge) and Nydia Velázquez
(D-Sunset Park).
Currently, drivers fork
over $19 on each trip from
Brooklyn to Staten Island,
or $12.24 for travelers using
the E-ZPass system and
$5.50 for Staten Island residents,
while drivers coming
to Kings County cross the
bridge for free.
The legislation will allow
the Transit Authority
— which determines the
tolls — to cut the rates in
half, with drivers paying
half those fares each way,
i.e. $9.50 for standard trips,
$6.12 with E-ZPass and $2.25
for residents of the Rock.
A cadre of state legislators
are trying to get the Authority
to also introduce reduced
tolls for Brooklynites
who cross the span 10 times
or more a month.
The MTA’s chief Pat Foye
estimates this move will
produce between $10-15 million
in additional annual
revenue for the agency and
offi cials hope it will reduce
heavy trucks’s wear and
tear on many of Brooklyn
and Staten Island’s roadways.
“All New Yorkers will
reap the benefi ts of the restoration
of two-way toll collection,
Congress passed two-way tolling on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge on Dec. 17.
Photo by Steve Solomonson
from reduced wear and
tear on our bridges and tunnels
and fewer trucks on the
Staten Island Expressway,
Gowanus Expressway, Manhattan
Bridge and Canal &
Broome Streets in Lower
Manhattan,” Nadler said.
Brooklynites have also
called on the city to reduce
the lanes on the beleaguered
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway’s
repair in light of the
two-way tolls along with
other measures designed to
curb traffi c, such as congestion
pricing.
The Verrazzano is the
only bridge in the country
with federally-mandated
one-way tolling, which dates
back to the 1980s when then-
Representative Guy Molinari
(R–Staten Island) introduced
the law due to
traffi c build up and pollution
around the toll booths
at the Staten Island side, but
electronic tolling has since
made that law outdated, according
to another federal
politician.
“The implementation
of electronic tolling made
the old system outdated,
so it’s about time that splittolling
was reinstated on
the Verrazzano-Narrows
Bridge,” said Senator Chuck
Schumer.
The Senate is expected to
pass the budget and President
Trump will sign it into
law as soon as Friday, after
which it is up to the MTA to
introduce the new tolls, according
to Rose’s spokesman
Jonas Edwards-Jenks.
Fair’s fare
Verrazzano two-way tolling passes Congress